1947 Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 3 Bogart & Walter Huston Photos

Scarce group of three original vintage black-and-white photographs documenting the 1947 production of John Huston’s Warner Bros. classic, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, released in 1948.

Two closely related nighttime photographs show Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston gathered with members of the production company around a stone-ringed campfire. Walter Huston appears in mining costume beside the fire, while Bogart and other production personnel, photographers and visitors observe and photograph the gathering. A cooking pot remains beside the fire, with lighting and production equipment visible in the background.

The photographs appear to document an informal production or publicity gathering rather than a scene as presented in the completed film, offering an intimate view of Bogart, Huston and the company away from formal filming.

The third photograph provides a remarkable wide view of active location filming amid rugged desert rocks. A long camera track extends across the foreground toward the camera unit, with a boom microphone positioned above the action. Numerous large reflector boards stand along the right side of the set, while crew members, camera equipment, horses and additional production personnel gather at the far end of the track.

Together, the three photographs provide an unusually detailed record of both the technical production and informal life surrounding the making of the film.

These are original small-format production and personal-archive photographs rather than conventional studio-issued publicity stills. The exact compositions were not located among the accessible public photographic archives, commercial image databases or auction records consulted and appear to be previously untraced.

Each photograph measures approximately 5 × 4 inches.

Provenance
From the personal archive of Warner Bros. still photographer Mac “Julian” Saugstad (1901–1970). Known professionally as Mac Julian, Saugstad spent more than three decades behind the scenes of Hollywood productions, creating key-set, portrait, publicity and location photographs that helped shape the public image of the films he documented.

His assignments included The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, Sergeant York, Yankee Doodle Dandy, To Have and Have Not, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, Calamity Jane and The Spirit of St. Louis, among scores of Warner Bros. productions and studio assignments.

The collection was retained by Julian following his studio career and has remained with his family since.

Condition
Overall good vintage condition with expected age-related wear. The photographs retain strong detail and tonal contrast, with light toning, scattered surface and handling marks, minor scratches, small edge and corner creases and occasional processing imperfections.